Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Mountain Equipment Guide Glove Review

Mountain Equipment have a long history of producing very good mountaineering kit, and the Guide Glove is no exception. Mountain Equipment describe the guide glove as being a "work horse glove for all round mountaineering". It features a waterproof lining, nylon outer shell, a nose wiping thumb cover and a fibre pile and fleece lining.

These were the first gloves I ever bought for winter climbing in back in my first year at uni and I'm now on my third pair. Needless to say I really like them! I have used other gloves too but in the end I always come back to the Guides.

Guide Gloves being put through their paces on Sioux Wall

The insulation on these gloves seems to be a nice compromise between warmth and finger dexterity. Yes you will have more movement in the fingers in thin gloves and you'll be warmer in more insulated gloves but you need to find a balance between using fingers and feeling them. The guides seem to have done this very well.
I also like the little nose wiping patch. This wont work for er... a big pay load, but it does suffice to wipe away the shrapnel.

One of my first attempts at tooling in Guides back in second year, not sure why I needed to woolly hat

They also come with elastic wrist leashes. These are very useful for not accidentally dropping gloves half way up a route! We've all seen this done on the Ben haven't we. Don't be that person! Keep them attached to you at all times.

Guide gloves on the summit of Bein Bhan a long time ago!

Another useful feature for a winter glove is a hard wearing outer. Winter climbing ruins gloves but the guides do seem to stand up to a fair amount of abuse. The nylon shell seems to work well for this.

Used on Cornucopia too!

One bad aspect of these gloves is their waterproofness, or rather lack of. They just don't seem to really stay dry. This however has been a problem with all gloves I have ever used. Maybe its because my hands sweat too much. Who knows.
Last but not least is price. These gloves are quite cheap by winter gloves standards. You can usually find them at about £45. Seeing as you will go through gloves so fast I think it is a good idea to get relatively cheap ones. I have never found a pair of gloves which are as good as guides and this cheap!
I give Mountain Equipment Guide Gloves a rating of 1 thumb up, but it is oh so nearly 2! A top notch all round gloves!

Sorry about the pictures but its hard to get pictures of gloves. I am wearing the gloves in all of them, honest.
You can buy ME Guide Gloves from Outdoorkit.co.uk with 11% off!